There are not that many truly dry-stored fuhai green star, and the high prices reflect the well stored, and relatively dryly stored cakes. Cakes that have stronger storage smells and funk naturally sells for less. EoT sold these cakes for I suppose somewheres between $200-$250. Compare this to Dragon Tea House, wanting $600 for one of their cakes. No clue how dry those cakes are.

Sampletea, for example offered the '99 Changtai Song Charactered for $11.50/10g. That's way below what it retails for--if it was dry stored. Houde sold the dry-stored version of this tea for $16.50/10g back in 2011. Given JakubT's review, the pricing was appropriate, despite that it wasn't dry-stored as per his preferences!

Buying wetter stored cakes can really work out for people who like it that way...cheaper tea because you like it like that! I would though, caution against any out of place *funk*. Funk can be really hard to get rid of. It can get milder and add character to a tea. But if you *hate* the taste, that won't help. Part of the attraction of dry-stored cakes is that you're not at risk of bad storage *in that way*. Of course, you can get other problems!

2008 Red Mark, from Wistaria. Smoke is very noticeable in the aroma and taste. Similar to the Green Mark in my previous post, I had to double rinse for 30 secs with vigorous shaking of the pot in order to dissipate the smokiness. Luckily it worked. After about 4-5 brews, the liquor was ultra smooth, giving a wet mouth-feel and a tingling huigan in throat and mouth. Good energy and clear feeling. Huigan was big and many brews from this cake. I would offer this as an example of a tea that is drunk not for its flavor or aroma, but it's feeling. I can't help but wonder how one would store it to preserve the flavor and aroma, yet achieve this smoothness and clarity?

The other question I have is why does a renowned Tea Master like Zhou Yu even bother with tea that's been compromised with smoke?

shah82 wrote:There are not that many truly dry-stored fuhai green star, and the high prices reflect the well stored, and relatively dryly stored cakes. Cakes that have stronger storage smells and funk naturally sells for less. EoT sold these cakes for I suppose somewheres between $200-$250. Compare this to Dragon Tea House, wanting $600 for one of their cakes. No clue how dry those cakes are.

Sampletea, for example offered the '99 Changtai Song Charactered for $11.50/10g. That's way below what it retails for--if it was dry stored. Houde sold the dry-stored version of this tea for $16.50/10g back in 2011. Given JakubT's review, the pricing was appropriate, despite that it wasn't dry-stored as per his preferences!

Buying wetter stored cakes can really work out for people who like it that way...cheaper tea because you like it like that! I would though, caution against any out of place *funk*. Funk can be really hard to get rid of. It can get milder and add character to a tea. But if you *hate* the taste, that won't help. Part of the attraction of dry-stored cakes is that you're not at risk of bad storage *in that way*. Of course, you can get other problems!

I just went back and read my post. Are this tea sound much worse than it actually was. The first infusion was off. but over all the tea really wasn't that bad or even overly traditionally storred. It just had a a sour taste to the first two infusions that was different from the normal traditional storage mustiness.

Tead Off wrote:2008 Red Mark, from Wistaria. Smoke is very noticeable in the aroma and taste. Similar to the Green Mark in my previous post, I had to double rinse for 30 secs with vigorous shaking of the pot in order to dissipate the smokiness. Luckily it worked. After about 4-5 brews, the liquor was ultra smooth, giving a wet mouth-feel and a tingling huigan in throat and mouth. Good energy and clear feeling. Huigan was big and many brews from this cake. I would offer this as an example of a tea that is drunk not for its flavor or aroma, but it's feeling. I can't help but wonder how one would store it to preserve the flavor and aroma, yet achieve this smoothness and clarity?

The other question I have is why does a renowned Tea Master like Zhou Yu even bother with tea that's been compromised with smoke?

I haven't got any smoke in my Red Mark either. The 2003 cakes from Wistaria have a "common base" that is slightly smoky to some people, but I don't think there was much of that in the 08.

Besides, not all smoke has to be bad (and this comes from a person who usually hates smoke in tea) - I quite enjoy mild smokiness in some lightly aged teas of 90s - it's a bit Laphroaig-ish in a way.

I am the fireman, coo coo cajoo. Even my wife noticed the smoke without me suggesting anything. I still like the teas, especially the feeling I got when drinking them. Don't know why I am so sensitive to smoke.

With respect to the Fuhai, I never mind a bit of sour taste was much of a bother in a bit old puerh tea. Off tastes and funk are a little different, though.

I was also of mind that it was a teachable moment for buying tea. Just because one well stored tea is $xxxx doesn't mean that the next, mustier tea is the same. A tea buyer should always have in mind specifically the virtue that they want to buy, and what they are willing to put up with for lower cost.

2007 “Wild Big Leaf” CNNP Tiepai from White2tea today. First off great service - TwoDog noticed that the quantities had gotten messed up on my order, and quickly emailed apologies and that he was sending the rest with some extra samples.

The tea's good too - it reminded me of heated up ginger ale (coincidentally, I tried drinking this for the first time two days ago), with a similar spiciness and thick sweetness. Also had some bitterness and little bit of astringency at the back of the throat - I found the bitterness was a bit sharp, but not in an off-putting fashion (I guess that's the "plantation bitterness" I hear mentioned sometimes?).

The sweetness lingered in the mouth for some time after the session, and when it faded away it left some bitterness behind.

Also felt some qi (I think I'm pretty sensitive to such things, so YMMV), but unlike other qi I've felt that was either energizing or centering/calming, this energy felt more scattered.

2005 CGHT (Chen Guang He Tang) Menghai Yieh Sheng. Dry leaf has a sort of sweet powdery aroma. Smelling the Yixing lid after the first brew, I get the whiff of wet storage. I drink the first brew and I can taste the wet quality but it is not very obtrusive. Tea is smooth with some thickness in the body. Mouth is tingling, good huigan, and feeling. Quite buttery and long lasting. Storage didn't bother me, but my wife kept commenting about it. She is even more sensitive to it than I. I liked this tea and it has aged well, smoothed out, and is easy to drink.